Welcome Garrett!

Well, what did I say earlier about plans...and how God likes to laugh at them?  Yep, that's right - the timeline that I had laid out previously was disrupted (in a very good way) just 48 hours later.

On Monday night, around 11pm, I woke up and realized things were a bit...wet.  I didn't realize it at that time, but my water had broken.  I went back to sleep - or tried to...but then I noticed that I was having semi-regular contractions.  So, for an hour I monitored them, and around 2am, called the hospital.  They advised I called my doctor...which I did, who then told me to go to the hospital for evaluation.  We packed up the car, dropped off Ava at Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey's house, and headed to the other side of town.  It's amazing how much faster the drive is when there is no other traffic on the road!

Once at the hospital (3am), they evaluated me, and much to my dismay, I was still only 1cm dilated. They were going to send me home...but, they checked to see if my water had broken, and because it had (all of a sudden, that extra fluid at 11pm made sense), they were forced to admit me.  YEAH!  I ended up walking around the delivery room for 45 minutes, and then got my epidural (6:30am at this time.)  I had done "GREAT work", and was then dilated to 6 cm.  And then 7cm, very quickly.  The nurse advised that we would most likely have the baby around lunchtime.  (Scott and I looked at each other and laughed.  She had no idea who she was dealing with, clearly.)  Next time the nurse checked, I was at a stage 2, which means the next stage was BABY OUT!  My doctor (yay, it was MY doctor on call, not another doc from the clinic) barely made it in time.  I had three hard contractions, pushed with everything I had, and out came our little guy.  The umbilical cord was wrapped around his shoulders, so they had to take care of that, but other than that, everything went very, very smoothly.

I cannot imagine how hard it would be to push for hours - I was tired after my 10 minutes of pushing.  Also, I heard one of the nurses say, "Did you see how relieved she was once he was out??"  (Um yes, because now I can breathe again, and eat full meals, and...am no longer pregnant!)  Oh, and the epidural didn't fully have time to take effect, so I felt the pain a bit more with this delivery.  But, hey, 10 minutes of pushing, with some pain, is STILL an awesome delivery story, and I will not complain!

Here are the stats for our new little man: Garrett Douglas - 10/29/2013 - 7:25am - 7lbs, 4oz - 21" long
Garrett's healthy, doesn't cry as much as Ava did (YEAH!), and I'm already loving this little guy more than I thought possible.  His jaundice levels were a little high, so I took him in on Friday for an additional check, and now they don't think there is anything to be concerned with.  Whew...

We stayed in the hospital just until early evening on Wednesday, and then headed home.  Ava stayed with Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday night (we did stop by to see them before going home) so we could try to figure out the best sleeping arrangement for the next few weeks.  Little G and I are out in the living room (so I can be at his beck and call throughout the night :) ) while Ava and Scott are staying in the master bedroom.  Let's just say that 2 of the 4 of us are getting decent sleep, while the other 2 are definitely not.  But, that's to be expected, and since I'm no longer working, I can catch up (kinda) during the day.

A nurse called to check in on me on Thursday, and she informed me that babies are designed to be more hungry at night, as moms produce more milk during that time.  Who, on God's green earth, designed that plan?!?  But, each night is getting better, and this weekend, Scott was able to relieve me of duties each morning, so I've been able to get 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep each morning...and I will never, ever take my own bed for granted again.  And a dark room.  And silence. :)

So, with all of that thrown in several days early, we missed a few things that we had planned  Most of them could be rescheduled, like our house walkthrough.  We completed that on Thursday evening, and now have our final walkthrough scheduled for next Thursday.  Closing is still scheduled for Friday, and then we'll start moving stuff in over the weekend, with the movers doing the big stuff the following week.

We also have Ava's first conferences this coming Wednesday night, and then no school for Ava on Thursday or Friday.  She'll be going to the Kids Choice program on those two days, which I know she'll like.  While I'm off of work, she isn't going to the before-school Kids Choice program, so we've got some extra time in the morning to fight about socks, shoes, waffles, etc.  Just another adjustment that we are working through!

Pre-delivery, ready to go!

 

Welcome to the world, little guy!

 

Not so happy to be out of his warm and cozy home. 

I did hear the nurse say the umbilical cord was a good one - good to know! 

 

Love that skin-to-skin contact with my new baby boy

 

Meeting his Godmother, Emilie

 

He's a great sleeper...during the day...

 

The list that helped us stay on track :)

 

Happy Dad!

 

Heading home

 

"Heavy Duty Truck Repair"

 

Look at those skinny little arms!

 

Oh yes, we needed to fit Trick or Treating in there, too...Ava went as the bride, Rapunzel.  Scott took her around the neighborhood for an hour, and couldn't believe how much candy she came home with.

 

Proud big sis!

 

Snuggly with the monkeys

 

Looks like we have a thumb sucker

 

The Winfields stopped in to meet G...Isabel did great holding him!

 

Not in your eye, silly boy!

 

One of these boys is happy...

 

Soooo....yeah.  It's been a busy week.  But, at least we've got some things checked off our list (haha) and can focus on the house/move next.  Looking forward to seeing what the next few weeks hold in store for us!